


is there somewhere

by pb87



Series: One Shots [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), F/M, Grief/Mourning, M/M, May Parker (Spider-Man) Dies, Superfamily (Marvel), The Blip, a little bit of timeline fuckery, the snap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 16:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20261134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pb87/pseuds/pb87
Summary: After May's death, Tony takes Peter in. However, despite his overwhelming grief, Peter notices a spark between Tony and Steve, and once he points it out to Tony, watches as their romance begins.





	is there somewhere

**Author's Note:**

  * For [peterssparker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterssparker/gifts).

When May got sick, I didn’t think about the possibility that she wouldn’t get better. She had to get better, right? The universe couldn’t be cruel enough to take away the last bit of family that I had. It couldn’t be cruel enough to take away the woman who’d become my mom.

Even on the last day, when her doctors were telling me I should go sit with her and hold her hand while they tried to ease her passing, I somehow convinced myself that her pulse would get stronger and her eyes would get brighter and her skin would regain its colour.

But those goodbyes were real. And the long beep that accompanied her eyes glazing over…was real.

Just like that.

I walked home from the hospital that evening. The sky was a dark grey-blue, light rain wetting the cement under my feet. I had a backpack full of her stuff, things I’d brought her in the hospital to try to cheer her up. Old photos of the family, some of Uncle Ben’s old things that still carried the scent of cologne. A few of my academic awards. Stuff like that.

The apartment seemed cold when I walked in. I didn’t bother turning the lights on, or bringing the backpack all the way to my room. I set it down next to the front door and went to the kitchen, opening the fridge.

Thai leftovers.

I closed the fridge door and rested my forehead against the cool metal.

A sob wracked my body. And then another, and another, and I let myself curl up on the ground, crying hard, wishing May were here to hug me and stroke my hair and make it all better.

But she wasn’t.

And she never would be again.

***

In the days that followed, Mr. Stark and Happy helped me pack up the apartment and move out to the compound. We talked to lawyers about May’s will, talked to funeral directors and florists about the funeral, talked to the landlord and May’s bank. May had managed to get most of her affairs in order before she was too sick to deal with it, but what was left was our job to handle, and it was painful.

The funeral was bigger than we anticipated. Everyone from the neighbourhood had shown up. Homeless people she’d given spare change to, the bodega man with the funky Hawaiian shirts she always complimented, the staff from the Thai place that were all in love with her. Of course, Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts, Happy, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Barnes, Mr. Banner, Miss Romanoff, Mr. Barton, Mr. Thor, Col. Rhodes, an ambassador from Wakanda (since I guess King T’Challa couldn’t make it), Mr. Lang, Miss Maximoff, Mr. Vision, and Mr. Wilson. And MJ and Ned.

It wasn’t a secret that they were more there for me than May.

I was grateful for it, too.

Mr. Stark squeezed my shoulder before I went up to give my eulogy.

If I’m being honest, I couldn’t tell you what I said. I know I cried. And I hope I said what a wonderful mother she’d been to me, and how grateful I was to her, and how much I missed her. But it’s a bit of a blur.

After the funeral, we went upstate, back to the compound. I sat in the back, next to Mr. Stark, staring out the window, feeling numb.

“Hey,” Mr. Stark said, nudging my shoulder. “She was so proud of you.”

I looked over at him and forced a small smile. “I know,” I breathed, scared to speak at a normal volume in case my voice broke.

“Alright, come here.” He slid closer and pulled me into a hug.

“You’re not just getting the door for me?” I asked, joking, trying to stop myself from crying.

“Peter, we’re on the highway, of course not. That would be irresponsible.”

He squeezed me tighter, and I buried my face in his shoulder.

“I don’t wanna cry all over your expensive jacket.” But my voice was already breaking.

“Don’t worry about it, kid. Cry all over it if you have to. It’s just fabric.”

***

There was a bit of an…adjustment period, living at the compound.

For starters, my new room was the size of the entire apartment May and I had. Huge bathroom, giant bed, tons of bookshelves and desk space, all of the lab equipment and chemicals I needed to make web fluid, access to FRIDAY. It was insane.

The second thing was the sheer amount of cardio I did just walking from room to room. I was used to stepping out of my bedroom and into the kitchen. I had to get used to stepping out of my bedroom into a long hallway of other bedrooms and walk down to the kitchen. It wasn’t a long walk to the kitchen, but it was definitely an adjustment.

Not that I did a lot of walking to the kitchen for the first week or two after the funeral. I spent most of my time in bed, facing buried in a pillow, feeling utterly empty.

Mr. Stark and Happy seemed to take shifts, bringing me glasses of water or small snacks and trying to coax me into eating more. I just couldn’t bring myself to get up and face the world, or at least the Avengers. I knew FRIDAY was sending reports of my vitals and behavior to Mr. Stark, trying to gauge if I was improving or worsening.

If May were here, she’d go tell Mr. Stark that I was the same when my parents died, when Uncle Ben died. She’d tell him that I’d eventually pull myself out of it, I just needed time and maybe some TLC.

But, funnily enough, I don’t think Mr. Stark needed to be told.

He came in one day with a grilled cheese and a mug of hot chocolate, and pulled up the chair from my desk, sitting down next to my bed.

“Uh, Steve made the grilled cheese. I got distracted a burnt the first one. Hot chocolate is my mom’s recipe. I know it’s not May’s, but…”

“She always used powdered mix,” I told him, sitting up. “And somehow she still never got it quite right.”

He laughed. “She had other talents.”

“Yeah.”

I took a sip of the hot chocolate. “Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

“Yeah, don’t mention it, kid.”

He stayed with me while I ate, and we chatted idly. He wouldn’t admit it, but he only stayed to make sure I finished my grilled cheese.

Mr. Rogers came in while I was biting into the second half of the sandwich.

“Hey, Queens. Good to see you eating.”

“Thamks for the sammich,” I mumbled through a mouthful.

“No problem, kid. How’re you holding up?” he asked. He was standing behind Mr. Stark’s chair, hand on the back of the chair next to Mr. Stark’s shoulder. I watched as Mr. Stark glanced up at him, and then seemed to shake himself off and turn his attention back to me.

“I’m-I’m okay, I guess. As okay as you can be when you’ve lost what’s left of your family.”

“Hey, you haven’t lost all of your family. You’ve got your friends, right? Ned and Michelle? And obviously everyone at the compound. Family isn’t just blood.”

“May wasn’t technically blood,” I pointed out. “But yeah, I see your point.”

Mr. Rogers gave me a small smile. “Alright, well, I just came in here to check on you and to make sure that Tony here knows that _we_ still have a deadline regarding Rhodes’ suit.”

“It’s a two-minute fix, Rogers, I’ll work on it tonight.”

“As long as you remember.”

Mr. Rogers gave me one more smile and then headed out of the room.

“You two seem…_friendlier_ than you used to be,” I said to Mr. Stark, once Mr. Rogers was well out of the room.

“Yeah, well, all it takes to win him back over is a new shield.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know, kid. But you’re way off base. I mean, he’s still pining over one of the founders of SHIELD who died a few years back and Pepper and I just broke up. Not to mention, you know, we’ve got a whole rival dynamic.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, and took a slow bite of my sandwich. “Not a single one of those reasons had anything to do with how you feel about him.”

Mr. Stark rolled his eyes. “Okay, Peter, maybe all of this laying around has gotten your imagination up and running. Finish your sandwich and come out of your cave for a bit. We’ll watch a movie or something.”

He stood up, moving the chair back to my desk, and left the room.

I finished my sandwich and the sat in bed for a bit, wondering if I should get up and go watch the movie, or if I should just call it a night and go back to sleep.

It had been three weeks and four days since May had passed away. Six months, two weeks since the doctors told her she wouldn’t make it to see me off to college.

Part of me wanted to go easy on myself, grant me just a few more days to wallow in despair.

Part of me could hear May’s voice at the back of my mind.

_“Come on, Peter, it’s summer. Go out, enjoy yourself. Stop worrying about me.”_

It was time to stop worrying, I figured. The worst had come and gone. She wasn’t in pain anymore. She was with Ben, hopefully happy. Peaceful.

I figured I probably needed a good shower first, just to shake off some of the fog from staying in bed all day.

The shower I had here was…huge. It had weird features, too. Massage jets, steam functions, speakers embedded in the walls. Not that I didn’t absolutely love all of the weird features. It was amazing. I stayed in there until I was an especially wrinkly prune.

Getting out of the shower, I toweled off with maybe the fluffiest towel I’d ever touched, and then got dressed and headed out to the living room.

When I got there, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Stark were bickering over which movie to watch. Mr. Stark was arguing for _Bambi_, and Mr. Rogers was arguing for _The Lion King_.

“His mother figure just died, we don’t need to remind him of that!”

“And watching Mufasa get trampled is so much better.”

Mr. Stark sighed, dropping his head and pinching his nose. “Maybe we should just watch _Die Hard_ and call it a day.”

“I doubt Queens wants to-”

“Actually,” I piped up, “I love _Die Hard_.”

Both of them turned to look at me.

“Sorry, kid, I didn’t realize you were here.”

“I actually really like _Bambi_ and _The Lion King_, too, but I don’t really feel like a Disney movie.”

The two looked at each other, and then just kind of shrugged and set up the movie.

There was a weird…tension in the room, the whole movie. I was sitting between them on the couch, and they kept glancing at each other over me, acting like they were checking on me if the other caught their gaze.

They were acting like middle schoolers with a crush. It was almost surreal to watch.

***

That became a weekly tradition. However, one week, about a week from the start of the fall semester, I went into the city to hang out with Ned and MJ, and missed movie night. When I got back, though, Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers were asleep on the couch, the end of a Denzel Washington movie playing. Mr. Stark’s head was on Mr. Rogers’ shoulder, Mr. Rogers’ head resting on Mr. Stark’s.

***

Not long after that, I heard Happy and Mr. Stark talking. They were downstairs, in the workshop. I was in the living room, working on my first essay of the semester, but I could hear everything, clear as day. There were benefits to having your senses dialled up to 11.

“I haven’t asked someone out in years, Hap. I don’t even know where to start.”

“Since when is Tony Stark afraid of asking someone out?”

“Uh, since said someone and I battled it out in the middle of snowy buttfuck nowhere over his best friend killing my parents. God, maybe I should just…leave it alone.”

“Nope. Here’s what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna get him something small but sweet and attach a note asking him out. That way, you don’t have to try to ask him out in person and don’t necessarily have to get an answer to your face.”

“You mean get rejected to my face.”

“He’s not gonna reject you,” Happy argued, trying to settle Mr. Stark’s nerves.

There was a long pause, and then a sigh. “Alright. I’ll go shopping. You gotta help me with the gift wrap, though. And maybe I’ll get some calligraphy done for the note.”

“Nope. Write the note yourself. It’ll mean more.”

“I hate you when you’re right.”

“Always have, Tony. You always have.”

***

Mr. Stark came into my room that Friday, dressed up a little, wearing a cologne I’d only noticed him wearing to events. Ned and I were working on a project together when he came in.

“Hey, guys, how’s the project coming?”

“Pretty good so far,” I answered. “You look…fancy.”

Mr. Stark looked down, then back at me. I’d never seen him nervous before, let alone genuinely insecure. “Do I? Is it too much?”

“Depends. Where are you going?”

“Into the city. Steve and I are going for dinner.”

Ned shot me a look. I ignored it, focusing on Mr. Stark. “Like a…dinner date?”

“Maybe? Well, I mean, yes, but I don’t wanna jinx it or ruin anything, you know?”

Ned grumbled, and pulled a ten dollar bill out of his pocket, slapping it into my hand.

“Did you- did you bet on whether I’d ask Steve out?” Mr. Stark asked, appalled.

Ned shrugged. “Not on whether you’d ask him out. Whether or not he’d reject you.”

“Ned!” I snapped.

There was a long pause as Mr. Stark stared at us, and I was scared he was going to start yelling, but then he burst out laughing.

“Teenagers. Alright, well, we’ll be out for a couple hours. Try not to burn the place down while I’m gone.”

“Not even a little?” Ned joked.

Mr. Stark grinned. “I’ll turn a blind eye to a scorch mark or two.”

“You look great, Mr. Stark,” I said. “Steve won’t be able to keep his eyes off of you.”

That earned me a smile. “Thanks, kid.”

And then he was gone.

Once the door closed behind him, I smacked Ned’s arm. “Not cool, dude.”

“What? He had a good sense of humour about it.”

I rolled my eyes, and got back to work.

***

They got back a few hours later, and I heard footsteps go the way of the living room. I headed down the hallway, ready to go ask how the date went, but FRIDAY stopped me.

“I would advise against continuing towards the living areas, Mr. Parker,” she said.

“What? Why? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong. Their date went well. Very well.”

“So why can’t I- oh.”

“I believe there’s still work to be done in your room,” FRIDAY suggested, and I took that suggestion and turned around.

I’d been scarred enough as a kid, finding May and Ben in the shower together. I didn’t want to go through that again.

For a moment, I smiled to myself, imagining May commenting on exactly how much pent up chemistry Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers really had.

And then I missed her, a sharp pang in my chest when I remembered I couldn’t tell her exactly how well their date had gone and how happy I was for them.

***

The next few weeks, things were fun around the compound. The two were in the honeymoon phase, and everything was cute and lovely. Everyone was happy.

And then, over the course of the next few months, they seemed to settle into the relationship. There was the occasional fight, always resolved with hugs and then some…much less PG activities. I usually stayed in the safety of my room those nights, with headphones in. I did not need to know anything about their sex life.

Then, Thanos. I watched as Mr. Stark was stabbed by the Titan. I was glad Mr. Rogers was in Wakanda, fighting alongside Miss Romanoff and King T’Challa, and didn’t have to witness that. He would’ve lost his mind.

“Mr. Stark?” I asked, turning around. It felt like every cell in my body was fighting, clinging to each other. It hurt like hell. “I don’t feel so good.”

I fell against him, begging him to save me. I lost my balance, and fell backwards. He couldn’t stop me from falling, instead trying to control my fall and staying with me.

He’d told me after the ferry incident that if something happened to me, he’d feel like it was his fault. But this wasn’t his fault.

“I’m sorry.”

And everything faded to grey.

***

When I woke up, it was chaotic. I was thrown into battle, with barely any time to get a grip. The battle was a blur. I got a tight hug from Mr. Stark, but it was much too brief for my liking. I was tossed around, clinging to the gauntlet, surrounded by some badass women for a bit.

I saw Mr. Rogers, holding Mr. Thor’s hammer, beating the living hell out of Thanos.

We lost the gauntlet, and it seemed as though all was lost.

“I am inevitable.”

I saw, even from where I was, light dancing up the side of Mr. Stark’s body.

“No, _no no no no no!”_

I scrambled, trying to make it in time. I don’t know what my plan was, whether I was going to hold his hand and share the power, or if I was going to take the gauntlet and snap myself. I had superpowers, he didn’t. He couldn’t survive it.

“And I am…Iron Man.”

***

I helped Mr. Rogers pull the gauntlet off of Mr. Stark’s cold hand. We were both teary-eyed and numb. I held onto the gauntlet as he and Col. Rhodes carried Mr. Stark’s body.

I learned afterwards that they’d married and adopted a little girl in my absence. Mr. Rogers introduced me to Morgan a couple days after we returned from the battle, explaining that I was her dad’s godson and had gone away for a few years, but he’d brought me back.

She turned to me, brown eyes wide and sparkly. “You’re my big brother?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

She ran to me, wrapping her arms around me and resting her head against my stomach.

Between you and me, I shed a few tears during that hug.

***

Happy and I stayed with her during the funeral while Mr. Rogers mourned his husband. She held my hand tight, turning her face into the fabric of my suit during a couple of the extra sad speeches.

“Sorry I cried on you,” she mumbled between Ms. Potts’ and Col. Rhodes’ eulogies.

“It’s okay,” I told her, kneeling and fixing the collar of her dress. “It’s just fabric.”

Happy and I took her to get cheeseburgers after the funeral, giving Mr. Rogers some time out by the water.

***

When we got home, to the cabin, Morgan wanted some time alone in her tent. Happy went back to the compound to deal with some business. Mr. Rogers and I sat on the porch in silence.

“We didn’t know if you were coming back, Queens,” he said, after a good ten minutes.

“I know.”

“Tony said he always wanted a little girl. And we…we missed having a kid. She’s…she’s not a replacement, but she’s-”

“I know, Mr. Rogers.”

He scoffed a little. “You know, after everything, at least call me Steve.”

I offered him a small smile. “I guess that’s only fair.”

We sat out there and watched the sun set over the water, over the bundle of flowers with a glimmer of metal and glass in the centre.

***

I spent about a week in bed, wallowing, before I guess Morgan had had enough. She came into my room one day, jumping on the bed.

“Peterrrr, Papa made food and I want you to come eat with me.”

I pulled my pillow over my face. “I’ll come eat a little later.”

Morgan pulled the pillow away and tossed it off of the bed, and held out this little red glove with a round blue light on the palm. “Come get lunch or get blasted.”

“Well, in that case…”

I scooped her into my arms, and carried her, face towards the floor, making whooshy noises as we went. We ran into the kitchen, and by the time we got there, she was giggling. I set her down and she ran over to her dad, grinning.

“Wow, Morgan, you got Queens out of bed.”

“Yep!” she chirped proudly. “He’s easier to get out of bed than Daddy.”

Steve looked at me, face falling.

“Um, what’s cooking?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“I made chicken noodle soup. Extra carrots, just the way my little girl likes it.” He tried to offer a smile, but it fell a little flat.

Morgan seemed to realize what was going on, and teared up.

“Hey, hey hey hey, it’s okay,” I said, swooping in and picking her up. I set her down on some free counter space.

“I forgot for a minute,” she whispered, a tear falling down her cheek. I pulled my sleeve over my thumb and wiped it away. “I miss him.”

“Hey, can I tell you a secret?”

She nodded.

“When I was about your age, my parents died in a plane crash. It really sucked, and I miss them a lot, but you know what? It sucks less now than it did then. And you know that your dad loved you tons, and would’ve done anything and everything for you. And you still have tons of family. You’ve got your papa, and me, and Uncle Happy and Uncle Rhodey.”

“What about the rest of your family?” she asked, eyes wide.

I glanced down, remembering May’s empty hospital room. “Uh, your dad was sorta the only family I had left.”

She smiled, despite the wetness on her cheeks. “But now you have us!”

“She’s right, kid. You’re family.” Steve gave me an approving nod. I smiled back at him.

***

I went back to school a month later, alongside Ned and MJ. There were plenty of study sessions, long nights the three of us spent in the school library. But then Ned and Betty started to branch off on their own, and that left MJ and I to study together. We weren’t always studying the same stuff. She was taking a couple classics classes, some psychology, an art class, and a women’s studies class. We shared one Greek classics class and a psych course, and that was it.

The rest of my classes had to do with business or engineering, since Mr. Stark and I had talked about me taking over Stark Industries before the Snap, and it was in his will that I had full entitlement to his position, when I was done school. Big shoes to fill. The biggest.

On one particular night, I’d arrived late, slightly ruffled by some swinging around and webbing up bad guys.

“Hey, slowpoke,” MJ greeted, not bothering to glance up from her laptop.

“God, that’s not gonna stick, is it?” I groaned, sitting down and pulling out my notebooks and laptop.

Now she looked up, taking in my slightly roughed up appearance. “Depends. How bad were the bad guys?”

“Pretty bad.”

“Then maybe you’ve earned yourself some slack.”

“Thanks. Whatcha working on tonight?”

“Women’s studies. It’s killing me. We had a guest speaker today, and he was absolutely awful. Talked a lot of shit about how women are warriors but have been taught to be docile and therefore allowed ourselves to be pushed aside in society.”

“Sounds like he was kind of misogynistic.”

“Yep. And now I have to write a paper about it.”

“I’m assuming you’re countering him hard?”

“Yep.”

I watched her work. She’d pulled her hair up into a big bun on top of her head, small curls falling down and framing her face. I wished I could study her instead of my finance homework.

Nevertheless, I got to work, still stealing glances whenever I could.

***

_“Hey, Mr. Stark! Uh, this is MJ.”_

_Mr. Stark looked up from his holograms, and smiled. “You’re the girl he’s been talking so much about. So happy to finally put a face to the name.”_

_“I’d say likewise, but, uh-”_

_Mr. Stark chuckled. “Yeah, I know. Come on, I’ll give you the grand tour.”_

_MJ squeezed my hand and smiled as Mr. Stark led us through the compound, showing us art pieces he thought MJ would enjoy and bringing her through his workshop and introducing her to Morgan. Morgan loved her, jumping into her arms and playing with her hair. _

_“Peter, your friend is soooo pretty!”_

_I smiled at MJ. “Yeah, she is.”_

_MJ grinned, spinning Morgan around. “I like this one. She’s got good taste.”_

_Morgan giggled, clinging onto MJ and burying her face in her shoulder. _

_Steve’s voice came from behind us. “She really likes you.”_

_“Oh, hi, Cap.”_

_“Welcome to the compound, MJ. I’ve heard a lot about you.”_

And then the fantasy was interrupted by my alarm clock, waking me up for class.

***

I found myself in Mr. Stark’s workshop one night, going through FRIDAY’s tapes, trying to find conversations about me. I don’t know why, but I had the urge to find out what Mr. Stark said about me when I wasn’t around.

The first one that came up was a conversation between Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts, dated about two months before they broke up.

_He was sitting in the workshop, in the same seat I was sitting in now. Ms. Potts walked in and pulled up a chair, sitting next to him. _

_“Peter called to rave about the suit upgrade.”_

_Mr. Stark cracked a smile. “What’d he say?”_

_“The new software is apparently incredibly intuitive, and he said he’s relieved that Karen suggests Instant Kill Mode less.”_

_“Good to know.”_

_“There was also a glitch with the heads-up display, but he said he fixed it on his own.”_

_“Did he say what the glitch was?” _

_“A problem with the GPS. He didn’t get into the specifics.”_

_“Remind me to call him and ask him what the problem was. I have to send the update to Rhodey, too, and he’s military so a glitch like that…”_

_“Got it.”_

_She rested her chin on his shoulder. “Do you think you’ll ever want him at the compound full time?”_

_“Oh, absolutely. I plan on handing off my role in the company to him.”_

_“Really?”_

_“That kid is…wildly intelligent. He’s got some growing up to do before he’s ready for the role but-”_

_“You also have some growing up to do before you’re ready,” she teased. “Come on, it’s late. Let’s go to bed.”_

_“I’ll be up in twenty. Just gotta tweak this reactor.”_

_She got up, kissing his temple before standing upright and walking away_.

I stopped playback and wiped at my wet cheeks.

“Would you like me to play the next clip?” FRIDAY asked.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

_It started with Mr. Stark laying across the couch in the living room, his head in Steve’s lap. _

_“Do you want kids?” he asked. _

_Steve blinked. “What?”_

_“Just…have you thought about maybe…adopting kids ever?”_

_“I thought you didn’t want kids, Tony.”_

_“I didn’t say that I do.”_

_“You didn’t have to.”_

_There was a long pause, and then Mr. Stark said, “I dunno, I guess…all of this…Peter stuff might’ve changed my mind. He feels like my son, Steve. And I didn’t think I would, but I like the feeling of being a dad.”_

_Steve smiled at him. “I like who you are as a dad. It’s a good look on you.”_

_Mr. Stark looked up at him, and then sat up. “I think it’d be a good look on you, too.”_

_They kissed, and the clip ended. _

“Are you sure you still want to watch the next clip?”

“Yeah, play it back.”

_This was dated about a year after the snap. _

_It was still the living room, but it was a complete mess. Like there’d been a party recently. _

_Steve had his arm around Mr. Stark, who was resting his head on Steve’s chest. _

_“This is crazy, right?” Mr. Stark asked. “We’re gonna meet our little girl in a few weeks.”_

_“It is crazy, Tony,” Steve said, his voice sounding sleepy. “She’s gonna be all ours.”_

_“God, I wish Peter were here to see it. He’d be such a good big brother to her.”_

_Steve stroked Mr. Stark’s hair. “He would.”_

_“I miss him, Steve. I still can’t…can’t help feeling like it’s my fault he’s gone.”_

_“You couldn’t have done anything, Tony. We all gave it our best shot and we still lost. But look at what we have now. We’re adopting a little girl, and she’s gonna have the best, smartest dad she could ask for.”_

_“Real modest,” Mr. Stark scoffed. _

_“I was talking about you.”_

_He paused. “I just hope I don’t make the same mistakes as my dad.”_

_“You won’t. You’re a smart guy, Tony. You learned from his mistakes.”_

_“But I’m not perfect. I couldn’t save Peter.” Mr. Stark smiled a little. “Can you imagine his reaction if we’d gotten the chance to tell him we were adopting? He would’ve been so happy. He wanted us to be together so bad and it would’ve made his year if we told him we were getting married and adopting a kid.” He paused again. “I really do miss him. Poor Morgan’s gonna grow up hearing all about her big brother Spider-Man.”_

_“She’ll feel like the luckiest kid alive. Daughter of Iron Man, sister of Spider-Man.”_

_“You forgot daughter of Steve Rogers.”_

_“Hey, she’s much luckier to have you, believe me. You’ve got some experience going into this. I’ll be learning on the fly.”_

_“You’ll be great. I love you.”_

_“I love you too.”_

FRIDAY offered to play another clip, but I declined, and turned off the display. It was too much.

“Peter?”

I turned around, surprised. “H-hey, Steve.”

“What are you doing up so late?”

I sniffled, wiping under my eyes. “N-nothing. I just…I can’t stop thinking about Mr. Stark.”

“Yeah, I know, kid.” He pulled up a chair and sat down with me. “I miss him, too.”

“I missed so much. I missed you guys getting married and-and adopting Morgan. I missed her first steps and first words. I missed Mr. Stark and I working on a million projects we had sketches and ideas for. And I got back and he hugged me and I thought it’d go back to normal and we could still work on all of those projects and I could keep my dad, but-but…I couldn’t save him.”

“Save him?”

I took a deep, shaky breath. “I saw him steal the infinity stones from Thanos. I tried to make it in time, to-to steal the gauntlet and snap myself or to hold his hand ma-maybe and spread out the force so he didn’t have to take it all. But I wasn’t fast enough.”

Steve put a hand on my shoulder. “That’s not on you, Peter. You can’t save everybody.”

“But he saved _me!_ Didn’t I owe him at least an-an _attempt_ to-”

“And you tried. You saw him steal the stones, which was more than the rest of us did. You knew what he was doing and you tried to help. It’s not your fault you couldn’t make it in time, Peter. It was a huge battlefield and there were tons of troops in the way.”

I dropped my head, letting myself cry a little. “It’s not fair. Why did he have to die for Thanos’ crimes?”

“I know, kid. I know.”

There was a long pause as Steve let me cry for a minute.

“You know, Queens, he talked about you all the time.”

Scoffing lightly, I looked up. “You don’t have to try to make me feel better.”

“I’m not making it up. When Scott came up with his time travel theory to get the stones back, Tony refused to even try it. He said it was too dangerous and that there wasn’t a lot of likelihood that we’d succeed. And then he and I were in the kitchen one night washing the dishes and he accidentally sprayed the shelf, and he took down a picture of the two of you to wipe the water off. He didn’t sleep that night, Peter. He figured out time travel instead, and that’s when we all went back and got the stones and brought everyone back. He risked it all because he missed you so badly.”

I stared at Steve for a moment. “All of that over some water on a picture?”

He nodded. “You know Tony. All about the dramatics. Big gestures. All of that.”

“Yeah,” I laughed.

There was another long pause.

“I just…there’s this girl. MJ. And she’s amazing. Talented, intelligent, witty enough to throw Mr. Stark off. And I…I keep thinking about how much he would’ve liked her. I just wish I could talk to him.”

There was a weird jingle, and the display lit up again. This time, instead of FRIDAY’s footage, there was Mr. Stark’s face. In the corner of the display, was the word EDWARD.

_Even Dead, We’re Actually Rarely Disconnected. _

“Hey, honey, kid, took you long enough to say the magic words.”


End file.
